Oldest Living Married Virgin
by Midnightsun1fan
Summary: What happens when Kagome finally comes home after making a fool of herself in front of her father? She wakes up in a strangers bed, and not just any stranger, a marine. Could her life get any worse?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.**

**This idea was given to me by one of my all time favorite books. This is my first fanfiction. I hope you like it. **

The Oldest Living Married Virgin

**Chapter One**

"Just let me die," Kagome Higurashi muttered as she rolled onto her right side, opened her eyes, then closed them. A helpless moan trickled from her throat.

Sunlight came pouring into the hotel room through floor-to-ceiling windows. Why hadn't she closed the drapes the night before? Good Lord, what a hideous thing to wake up to. Especially when her head was pounding with the mother of all hangovers.

Opening her eyes, she tried to get used to the golden light splashing across the industrial-gray carpet and the impersonal furniture. When her head didn't explode, she sighed and lifted one hand to push her black hair back from her face.

Lord, what a night.

From now on she would definitely eat something before trying to find courage at the bottom of a pitcher of margaritas. Heck, the only thing she'd eaten yesterday was the rock salt rimming her glass.

She made a face and licked dry lips with her thick, cottony tongue. Bracing both hands on the mattress, she pushed herself into a sitting position and watched as the world rocked, tilted, then thankfully righted itself.

Absently she noted the loud buzzing in her head and hoped it would wear off soon.

The blanket pooled at her waist and she glanced down to see she was still wearing her bra and panties. But then, the condition she'd been in last night, she was lucky she had remembered to take off her shoes before climbing into bed.

Heck, she had been lucky to find her room.

Suddenly a twinge of memory tugged at the corner of her mind, as persistent and nagging as the continued buzzing in her ears. Concentrating, Kagome seemed to remember a very nice security guard in a dark blue uniform escorting her upstairs. Without his help, she probably never would have made it.

Too bad she couldn't remember his name or face. She owed him a big thank-you.

Abruptly the buzzing noise stopped. Before she could thank whatever gods were responsible though, she heard the distinct sound of a man softly singing. And the sound was coming from behind the closed door of what she guessed was the bathroom.

Good Lord, that was no _buzz_ she'd been hearing. It had been the shower.

Frantically, she tried to put a face to the voice of the man in the other room. But what was left of her brain drew a complete blank, so she carefully sent out her miko powers and gasped at the power that pushed against hers.

Dear Lord, she prayed silently, please don't let this be what it looked like. Please don't let her have been so drunk she'd slept with a man she couldn't even remember, and a demon none-the-less.

Briefly she cupped her face in her palms, trying to block out the man's voice. But she couldn't. Perfect, she said to herself, letting her hands fall to her lap. She'd gone from being the world's oldest living virgin to a one-night stand with a powerful youkai in one drunken night.

Well, she wasn't just going to sit here to wait for whoever he was to step out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a smile.

Casting a wary glance at the still-closed door, Kagome edged clumsily off the bed and staggered to her feet. Spinning and swaying, the walls and furniture twisted and writhed like the characters in Salvador Dali print.

Her stomach lurched and she clamped one hand over her mouth. Maybe it would be easier to just stay to face the no-good fink, she thought, then disregarded the notion entirely. She'd never had any experience with morning-after conversations before and she definitely didn't want to face this youkai. Plus it wouldn't be fair to expect too much from herself while in the grips of a hangover.

Still, she briefly entertained the idea of jumping back into the bed and hiding under the covers. No, that wouldn't work.

She dropped to her knees beside the bed. Tossing her hair out of bloodshot eyes, she told herself to be calm. To think. To remember. Who was in her room? But it was no use. The night before was one long, foggy blank. Heck, she couldn't even remember registering at the hotel to _get_ a room.

Kagome inhaled sharply. Good God. If she didn't have a room, then _whose_ room was she in?

Briefly she let her head drop to the rumpled sheets. Muttering into the mattress, she whispered, "What did you _do_, Kagome? And _who_ did you do it with?

Abruptly the demon in the bathroom stopped singing.

Kagome looked up. She was trapped. Half-dressed, in a hotel where most of the guests were marines and their families, in town to celebrate the birthday of the Corps. Even if she made a break for the door, she was sure to run into humans and demons she knew who were bound to smell what she had done and who she had done it with. People her _father_ knew. And some of those folks would be delighted to be able to spread gossip about Kagome Higurashi, powerful miko, running around half-dressed through one of the biggest hotels in Laughlin, Nevada, smelling like a demon.

She groaned at the thought and told herself there had to be a way to salvage this situation. If only her brain wasn't still hazy with lingering traces of too many margaritas.

How would she ever face her father?

How would she ever be able to look herself in the mirror again?

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," she moaned, slamming her forehead into the mattress to punctuate each word.

The doorknob turned.

Kagome looked up, frantic. Black hair fell across her eyes. She squinted as the door opened slowly. The only thing missing, she thought, was the telltale horror movie music **-** to let the audience know that the dummy heroine was about to meet her maker.

The man in the open doorway didn't _look_ like your typical villain. But hadn't she read somewhere that most serial killers looked like the boy next door?

In the next instant she realized that this guy didn't match _that_ description, either. She reached up, pushed her hair out of her eyes and looked into a disapproving golden stare. Dressed only in a pair of faded blue jeans, his feet and chest bare, you could see maroon markings on his wrist and face as well as a blue crescent moon on his forehead. He looked perfectly at ease. Except for those eyes of his.

"So, you're finally awake," he said.

"Who are you?" Her voice sounded creaky.

"Sesshoumaru Taisho," he told her, flipping the hand towel he held across one shoulder. Then he crossed his arms over an incredibly wide, muscular chest and leaned negligently against the doorjamb. "Like I told you last night."

Taisho. Taisho, she repeated mentally. Why did that name sound familiar? She silently vowed to never again visit a friendly bartender as a therapist.

Trying to recover some of her dignity, which wasn't easy in her bra and panties, Kagome stood, telling herself that she wore less clothing on the beach. There was no reason to feel self-conscious. Still, she folded her arms over her breasts, each hand gripping a bare shoulder.

Clearing her throat, she admitted, "I'm afraid I don't really remember much about last night."

He snorted.

Her eyebrows arched.

"Not surprising," he said tightly. "You could hardly stand up by the time I found you."

"Which was _when_ exactly?" she asked, throwing dignity to the wind. She wanted to know what happened.

"About twenty-two thirty hours last night. Trying to get into the Battalion Ball through the emergency exit."

Oh, Lord.

"I stopped you just before the alarm could go off."

Dimly, she thought she recalled standing in the darkness, tugging and yanking at a door that had stubbornly refused to budge.

Oh, this just kept getting better.

Unconsciously, she lifted one hand from her shoulder to rub at an aching throb settling just between her eyebrows. "Look, Mr. Taisho-"

"First Sergeant Taisho," he amended.

First Sergeant Taisho. Of course. _That's_ how she knew the name. Not a serial killer. Worse.

A marine.

Kagome stared at him, horrified at the implications of having spent the night in his room. No, surely she hadn't been drunk enough to- She cut that thought off at the pass, turned around and plunked onto the edge of the bed.

But wouldn't that be truly ironic? The last living twenty-eight-year-old virgin finally does the deed and is too drunk to remember it?

What an idiot she was!

Shaking her head carefully, Kagome muttered more to herself than him. "I don't remember much from last night, First Sergeant."

"Like I said," he remarked, "I'm not surprised."

She ignored his sarcasm. She was in no shape to fire back. "I _do_ remember a security guard bringing me here. But I don't remember _your_ arrival."

Shaking his head, Sesshoumaru Taisho straightened, threw his towel back into the bathroom, then stalked across the room to a closet. Opening it up, he talked as he pulled out her dress and a black polo shirt for himself.

She frowned slightly. Where did all of the demon's clothes come from?

"A security guard?" he asked, tossing a scooped-necked, floor-length, blue velvet gown at her. "That's what you remember?"

"Yes," she snapped, grabbing the dress and holding it close to her body, luxuriating in the feel of something familiar. "And, I might add, he was decidedly more polite than you have been so far this morning."

"That's wonderful," he muttered, and yanked his shirt over his head. She tried not to notice the play of muscles beneath his pale white skin.

She was in enough trouble already. Besides, a great build didn't make up for a nasty manner. What did _he_ have to be cranky about? _She_ was the one with the hangover here. _She_ was the one who had lost her virginity to a man, demon, who only seemed vaguely familiar.

She scowled to herself. Just what did it say about this guy, anyway? Did he usually lurk around hotels hoping to find a drunk woman he could take advantage of? Getting angrier by the minute, she realized he had probably felt as though he'd hit the jackpot when he'd discovered she was a virgin! Although, most demons don't want anything to do with humans.

Lifting her chin, and holding her dress in front of her like a shield, she said quite calmly, "I really think you should be going, Sergeant."

"First Sergeant."

Like that mattered _now_.

"Fine. First Sergeant. It's morning. You're dressed. Why don't you run along to your own room?"

He shoved the hem of his shirt into the waistband of his jeans. "You're really something, you know that?"

"What a lovely thing to say," she said stiffly, then winced as a sharp pain darted across her forehead. Groaning slightly, she added, "Do all of your women curl up their toes and swoon at that line?"

"It wasn't a compliment."

"My mistake. I thought you were striving toward politeness."

"You expect 'polite' from a man who just spent the night sleeping on the floor because his bed was being used by a self-indulgent drunk?"

She jumped to her feet and knew immediately that it had been a mistake. Pain exploded behind her eyes. Her stomach pitched and Sesshoumaru Taisho seemed to fade in and out as her eyes desperately tried to focus.

Kagome felt herself falling forward, but before she could hit the floor, he was there. Grabbing her, holding her close. The rock-hard strength of his chest seemed like the only stable point in her universe at the moment, so she held on as if it meant her life.

After a few terrifying seconds, it was over.

"Thank you," she murmured and, almost regretfully, pushed away from him.

He nodded, watching her carefully as if he half expected her to keel over again.

"I'm all right," she said.

One dark eyebrow lifted over his left eye.

"Wait a minute," Kagome said, inhaling slowly, deeply. "You said _your_ bed? Are you trying to tell me this is _your_ room?"

"That's right."

"Then-" She took a halting step backward. "Why would the security guard bring me here? To you?"

"That was no security guard, honey," he said. "That was me."

She stared at him. Bits and pieces of memory fluttered through her mind like autumn leaves in a whirlwind. Her gaze narrowed as she studied him, trying to fit his face with the half-remembered image of the guard who had been so kind.

Oh, Lord, she thought on an inward groan. He was right. It wasn't a dark blue security uniform she remembered. It was a Dress Blue uniform. Sesshoumaru Taisho had been formally dressed last night for the Battalion Ball.

Maybe they'd all be better off if she simply looked for an oven to stick her head into.

"This is mortifying," she finally mumbled. Drunk and rooming with a strange marine for the night. Waking up in only her underwear, in _his_ bed, with no memory of how she got there.

Looking up at him, she forced herself to ask the fateful question. "Did we-" She jerked her head at the bed behind her. "You know..."

Sesshoumaru felt his features tighten. Looking down into those deep sapphire eyes of hers, he clearly recalled having to strip off her gown and tuck her beneath the blankets. It hadn't been easy, turning his back on a gorgeous woman, even a drunk, human one. But, damn it, there were rules about some things. Whether he liked it or not. "No. We didn't 'you know...'"

Finding her drunk, trying to get into the ball, had been pure chance. If he hadn't stepped outside for a cigarette, he never would have seen her. Dressed as she was and as determined as she had been to get into the party, he had known that she belonged with some poor marine. Plus, she smelled vaguely familiar. It had seemed like his duty to keep the clearly toasted woman from embarrassing herself, and the damn fool who loved her, in front of his superior officers.

He had taken her to his room with the thought of sobering her up. But she'd fallen asleep almost immediately. Now he had to find out where she belonged and get her there.

Fast.

"Nothing happened last night, lady," he said stiffly, turning his back on her to walk across the room and pick up his shirt.

"Oh."

He glanced at her unreadable expression and didn't know whether she was relieved or disappointed. Either way, though, it didn't matter a damn to him.

"Now, why don't you tell me who I should call about you?" he asked, determined to get her the hell out of his life as quickly as possible. _Before_ the rest of the hotel guests woke up and someone saw her leaving his room or smelled her scent all over him.

"In case you hadn't noticed," she said, gingerly stepping into her blue velvet dress, "I am no longer drunk, so I don't need you to phone anyone about me."

Disgusted, he told her, "Honey, this hotel is crawling with marines, most of them demons. If you leave my room wearing last night's dress, somebody is going to notice and talk. Now, tell me who to call, so they can bring you something to wear."

She fumbled with the tiny seed-pearl buttons lining her dress from the low-cut bodice to mid-thigh. He closed his eyes, not really wanting to look again at the high, wide slit in the front of her gown that exposed slim, shapely thighs. No reason why he should torture himself.

Man, this was the last time he'd be a Good Samaritan. Next time some gorgeous black-haired woman was trying to embarrass herself, he'd let her.

Impatiently, Sesshoumaru waited for her to answer him. Just before she finished her task, someone knocked on the door.

She looked up at him, her eyes wide.

"Damn it," he whispered. He had wanted to get this woman settled and out of his room before anyone else had a chance to see her. Quickly, Sesshoumaru checked his watch-0930 hours. After last night, who in the heck would be up this early pounding on his door?

"Who is it?" she asked in a hush.

"How the hell should I know?" he snapped, then frowned. His nose was full of her sweet scent to fully smell who was out there, but it was a very powerful aura. He felt like a cheating husband in an old movie. Well, that was nuts. He hadn't done anything wrong. He was the good guy here. All he'd tried to do was help a lady in distress.

But then, what was that old saying? _No good deed goes unpunished?_

The knocking sounded out again. Louder this time. Insistent.

Sesshoumaru started for the door, but stopped dead when he heard the angry voice on the other side of it.

"First Sergeant Taisho?"

"Colonel Higurashi?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"Daddy?" Kagome groaned.

_"Daddy?"_ Sesshoumaru repeated, horrified.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two**

Tearing his gaze from the woman in front of him, he shot a quick glance at the door before turning a malevolent glare on her again. "Colonel Higurashi is your _father_?"

"Yes," she whispered, frantically finger-combing her tousled hair. "How do I look?"

"Like hell," he muttered, and thought it appropriate since they were both standing in the middle of an inferno.

Damn it, why was the colonel here this early? Did the man already know about his daughter spending the night? And if he did, how? Sesshoumaru hadn't thought even the marine wives could manage to spread gossip at light speed.

"First Sergeant Taisho," the colonel said in a tightly controlled voice, "are you going to keep me standing in the hall?"

Sesshoumaru ran one hand through his long silver hair and tried to think. His room was on the eleventh floor, so there was no sneaking her out the French doors that opened onto the balcony. And the room was too damned small to hide her for long. No choice here, he told himself.

Turning a hard stare on the colonel's daughter, he asked, "You ready to face the music?"

No.

Even without a mirror, Kagome knew what she must look like. Standing there in her stocking feet, her dress wrinkled, smudged mascara shadowing her eyes... She groaned inwardly. No doubt she looked as if she'd spent a hot, passionate night with a wildly attentive lover. 

How ironic.

She was about to be caught, tried, and convicted for something she hadn't done.

Had _never_ done.

Good God, she hadn't seen her father in four years because she'd been too embarrassed to face him. After today, she'd have to move to Outer Mongolia.

Grimly, she nodded, threw her shoulders back and tried to look nonchalant.

Sesshoumaru moved to the door, unlocked it, and opened it wide, silently inviting the colonel inside. "Good morning, Sir," he said as the man walked into the room.

"Is it?" the colonel asked.

Dressed in civilian clothes, Kaito Higurashi was still an imposing figure. In tan slacks and a white, short-sleeved sport shirt, he looked younger than he did when in full uniform. But he was every inch as intimidating as usual.

Her father's gaze seemed to bore into Kagome's and she flinched slightly at the disappointment she saw glittering in those blue eyes so like her own.

"Sir-" Sesshoumaru started.

The colonel interrupted him. "Would you mind leaving my daughter and me alone for a few minutes, First Sergeant?"

Kagome flicked a glance at her erstwhile host. She saw the hesitation on his features and knew that he desperately wanted to stay in the room to take his share of whatever the colonel had come to deliver. She also knew that he wouldn't think of disobeying even a nicely phrased "request" from her father.

"Aye, Sir," he said brusquely, and stepped into the hall, pulling the door closed behind him.

Kagome wanted to run. But then, she'd run away four years ago and it hadn't done her any good. This time she'd stick it out. Amazing, she thought. Today, she had courage.

"You do realize that he can most likely hear us, right?" Kagome asked, trying to stall the inevitable.

"I trust him to not listen in."

Kagome shrugged.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming, Kagome?"

She pushed her hair out of her eyes and wished to high heaven for three pots of hot, black coffee. How did everyone expect her to think when she had a hangover strong enough to kill a demon?

Inhaling sharply, she finally said, "I wanted to surprise you." Shrugging, she added helplessly, "Surprise!"

He didn't smile.

But she hadn't expected him to.

"Look, Daddy, this is all a big mistake," she said, moving away from the bed and all of its implications. "It's perfectly innocent, actually."

"'Innocent'?" He shook his head and she noticed absently that there were a few streaks of gray at his temples. "You spend the night with my First Sergeant, a man you've never met before, and you call it innocent?"

Why did she suddenly feel as though she were seventeen and late coming home from a date? She was twenty-eight years old. She'd been living on her own for years. She had a master's degree. As a sign language interpreter, her expertise was in demand everywhere from colleges to corporate battlegrounds.

Yet one look from her father had her dipping her head and mumbling answers.

"It's not what you think," she told him on a tired sigh. "The sergeant-"

"First Sergeant," he cut in.

"Whatever." She waved one hand dismissively. "Sesshoumaru was just trying to be helpful." Great. Now she'd been reduced to defending the demon she'd wanted to kick only a few minutes ago.

But what choice did she have? The colonel was her father. The man wasn't going to stop loving her no matter how disappointed he was in her. He was also Sesshoumaru Taisho's commanding officer, and Sesshoumaru didn't need to take career heat for her mistake.

The colonel walked over to the only chair in the room and sat. Leaning forward, his forearms on his thighs, he looked at her solemnly. "Do you know that at least four different people have already felt it was their 'duty' to come and tell me where my daughter spent the night?"

"Oh, Lord," she said on a sigh.

"Why, Kagome?" he asked.

She walked to the French doors and opened them, bravely facing the sunshine just to breathe in the fresh, morning air. She stepped onto the narrow balcony and curled her fingers around the railing. "I had a couple of drinks at the airport when I landed."

"So, you were drunk, too."

She glanced at him and noted that a well-remembered muscle in his cheek was twitching. When she was a kid, that had always been her signal that she'd pushed him too far. Oh, not that he'd ever raised a hand to her. But Kaito Higurashi's silence was as bad as any other man's rage.

"I guess the alcohol affected me more than usual because I forgot to eat," she said.

"And that makes it all right?"

"No, but that's what happened."

"And what's your reason for wanting a drink before seeing me?"

"Because I couldn't face you," she admitted, coming back into the room.

Planting both hands on his knees, he pushed himself to his feet. Towering over her by a good six or seven inches, he met her gaze and held it. "Because I was right about Kouga? _That's_ why you didn't want to face me?"

"Kouga's only a part of it and you know it," she said quickly, not wanting to get into a discussion about her ex-fiancé-or what had happened the last time she'd seen her father. "As long as we're on the subject, it's not easy having a father who's always right."

"Not always," he corrected, his mouth still a grim line of disapproval.

"Often enough to make me think my judgment stinks." And, to be honest, in the case of her ex-fiancé, it _had_ stunk. Big time.

The colonel raised one dark eyebrow. "Apparently, it still does."

She mentally flinched at that one.

"We're straying from the point her, Kagome."

"What _is _the point, Dad?" She was tired. And her head hurt. And her stomach felt as if there was an 8.1 earthquake rattling around inside it.

She needed a bath, some coffee and maybe, if it wouldn't kill her, a little food.

"The point is that half the battalion is already talking about you and First Sergeant Taisho." He paused and frowned. "The other half will be as soon as they hear about it."

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to create such a mess."

"Sorry doesn't cut it, Kagome," he told her sternly.

"I don't know what you want me to do," she said, and pushed past him to sit in the chair he had vacated.

A quiet knock on the door interrupted whatever he would have said.

"Come in, First Sergeant," the colonel said. When the door opened, he added, "I'm sorry to have kept you out of your room so long."

"Not a problem, Sir," Sesshoumaru said, closing the door quietly behind him. "But if you'll pardon me for saying so, Sir, there _is_ a problem you should know about."

The colonel rubbed the back of his neck tiredly. "What is it?"

"Well, Sir..." Sesshoumaru went on, clearly uncomfortable. " Major Jirou's wife spoke to me in the hall just now."

"Great," the colonel muttered, and Kagome flicked a quick, worried glance at him. "What'd she say?"

Sesshoumaru came almost to attention. "Sir, she said she saw your daughter and me enter my room last night. She wanted to know when your daughter and I were getting married and why she wasn't invited."

"The old-" The colonel's voice trailed off into nothingness.

"Great," Kagome muttered. "My sex life-" _Or lack of one,_ she added silently "-is the talk of the marines." She shifted uneasily in the chair. If she had just stayed in Maryland, none of this would be happening. She would still have a perfectly good phone relationship with her father and she wouldn't be sitting in the first sergeant's room with him looking at her as if she were the Three Stooges and Mata Hari all in one.

"It'll blow over, Dad," she said tentatively, and was rewarded with a black look from her father.

"You know how gossip spreads," he said simply. "It gets bigger, not smaller."

All her fault, she thought, disgusted with herself.

"Sir." Sesshoumaru spoke up again, and Kagome and her father turned to look at him. "If I might make a suggestion?"

"First Sergeant," the colonel said wearily, "I could use a good one right about now."

"The only way to stop gossip is to make it less interesting," Sesshoumaru said, still amazed that he was even considering saying what he was about to say. He glanced at the hungover woman mumbling to herself, then shifted his gaze back to her father.

The man he owed so much to.

"Your point, First Sergeant?"

"My point is this, Sir." He sucked in a gulp of air and said the rest of it in a rush, before he could change his mind. "If you agree, your daughter and I can get married this afternoon. If we're married, the gossips will have nothing to talk about."

"_Excuse_ me?" Kagome jumped up from her chair, wobbled a bit, then grabbed her father's arm for support. Sesshoumaru only glanced at her before looking back at the colonel.

"We can tell people we got married last night. No one would have to know any different."

The other man was silent for a long, thoughtful minute.

Sesshoumaru looked at the officer across the room from him. He had admired and respected Colonel Higurashi for years. He was one of the few humans that he did respect. Standing out in the hall, with nothing to do but think, Sesshoumaru had realized that because of his actions, the colonel's reputation would be sullied.

It was then he'd come up with his plan. Sure, it was a sacrifice. But there was nothing Sesshoumaru wouldn't do for the colonel.

"That's quite a suggestion, First Sergeant," the officer said.

"It's nuts, is what it is." Kagome spoke up, but neither man was listening at the moment.

"We can drive to Vegas," Sesshoumaru continued, ignoring her for the moment. "It's only an hour away. We'll find an out-of-the-way chapel, take care of business and be back her before most of the battalion is even awake."

"It might work," the colonel said.

"Maybe," Kagome agreed, nodding her head at the two of them. "Except for one little detail."

"Ma'am?"Sesshoumaru asked, only to be polite.

"What detail is that, darling?" the colonel asked.

"The fact that I'm _not_ going to go through with it," Kagome told them.

Her father's features tightened a bit. Sesshoumaru saw it from across the room. As the Higurashis faced each other, he waited silently. He'd seen the colonel in action and he didn't have a doubt as to who would win this silent competition.

"Daddy," she said so softly Sesshoumaru almost couldn't hear her even with his excellent demon hearing. "You can't be serious."

"Why not, honey?" he asked, reaching out and laying both hands on her shoulders.

"For one thing, I don't even know him."

"That didn't stop you last night.

Sesshoumaru tensed.

"I _told_ you, nothing happened," Kagome insisted.

"No one will believe that," her father said.

True enough, Sesshoumaru thought. No doubt the major's wife was already spreading her story from one end of Laughlin to the other.

"But, Dad, this is practically medieval."

"I can't force you to do anything," the colonel said, his hands still gripping his daughter's shoulders.

"I can't marry a stranger, for God's sake," she whined.

Sesshoumaru hated whiny women.

"He's not a stranger," the colonel insisted. "I've known First Sergeant Taisho over fifteen years."

She shot Taisho a glare through mascara-smudged eyes, then looked back at her father. "Then _you_ marry him."

"Kagome..."

"No way." She shook her head.

"What was it you were saying about your judgment?" the colonel asked.

"That was different."

"How?"

Sesshoumaru frowned slightly. He didn't have a clue what they were talking about now.

"Do you trust me?" the colonel asked quietly.

"Of course," she answered. "This has nothing to do with trust, though."

The colonel's hands dropped from her shoulders. He stood for a long, quiet minute, staring into her eyes.

Sesshoumaru had the distinct feeling that there was a silent message being passed from father to daughter. But he was in no position to know what it was.

"Well, then," the colonel said softly. "If you won't, you won't. But I _am_ disappointed, Kagome."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter three**

"I do," Kagome said, and extended her left ring finger toward her new husband. The thin gold band felt surprisingly heavy on her hand.

Shortest wedding ceremony on record, she thought numbly. Assembly line marriages, no waiting. The preacher kept talking, though to Kagome, his words sounded like little more than a low hum of sound. She couldn't believe she was actually doing this. Maybe she wasn't, she thought desperately. Maybe this was all just a really bad dream.

"I do," Sesshoumaru said from beside her. His voice rumbled along her spine, letting her know that this was no dream.

The Reverend Jaken, a man whose frowsy gray hair and short, round body made him strangely resemble a frog, quietly closed his worn, leather Bible and said, "I now pronounce you husband and wife." He beamed benevolently at First Sergeant Taisho. "You may kiss the bride."

Kagome looked up into his cold, expressionless eyes and wasn't the slightest bit surprised to hear him say, "Thanks, I'll pass."

Forcing a smile for the perplexed reverend, Kagome made her way back up the aisle toward the puddle of sunshine outside. _Go toward the light,_ she thought grimly. Except for her, when she reached that bright light, there would be no salvation. Just a short car ride back to the hotel in Laughlin, where her father waited.

She glanced down at the ring on her finger again. There hadn't been time to locate a jewelry store. The simple gold band had come straight from the Reverend Jaken's collection of wedding rings for unprepared couples.

Twenty-five dollars' worth of gold plating, a silk flower bouquet, and the only witnesses to her wedding, the next couple in line, who happened to be two panther demons. They stared at them incredulously, probably wondering why a strong demon was marrying a seemingly weak human.

Tears stung her eyes, but she blinked them back determinedly. Her own father hadn't given her away. Her bottom lip quivered and she bit down on it hard. He had already scheduled a golf game with the general. If he'd broken the date, he would have needed to explain. And explanations were one of the things they were trying to avoid.

Kagome stepped into the bright Vegas sun and immediately shielded her eyes with her hand. Even in November, the desert produced sunshine like nowhere else.

Rummaging one-handed in her purse, she looked for her sunglasses while waiting for Sesshoumaru to come out of the chapel. When she found them, she slipped them on, grateful for the dark lenses. Turning around, she glanced at the front of the Chapel of the Desert Palm trees, fake brick and a do-it-yourself stained-glass window above the front doors.

Well, this was a far cry from the wedding she had planned so meticulously four years ago. Then, she had reserved the church months ahead of time. She'd had six bridesmaids, two flower girls and a ring bearer. Not to mention a groom who had actually professed to love her.

She scowled slightly at that last thought. All right, so it hadn't been perfect.

"Are you okay?" Sesshoumaru asked as he stepped out of the chapel to join her on the walk.

"Peachy," she muttered darkly.

"Yeah," he said, shifting his gaze to stare at the crowds of gamblers already clogging the city side-walks in their hot pursuit of instant riches. "It's been a helluva day so far, huh?"

He was still wearing the black polo shirt and faded jeans he'd put on a couple of hours ago. Hardly formal wear. But then, her simple pink cotton skirt and matching, short-sleeved sweater was hardly a cover picture for a bridal magazine.

He pulled sunglasses out of his shirt pocket and stared at her from behind the safety of darkness. "You ready to head back?"

"What?" she asked, and couldn't seem to stop the sarcasm dripping off her tongue. "No reception?"

One corner of his mouth lifted, then fell again. "Oh, we'll get a reception," he told her. "I'm just not sure what kind."

Ah, the perfect end to the perfect wedding, she thought, and grimly started after him as he headed for the car.

* * *

Under the shade of an umbrella table on the deck overlooking the Colorado River, Sesshoumaru took a good long look at his new wife.

Wife. _Human_ wife.

He just managed to hide a shudder.

Even though this had been his idea, he still had a hard time dealing with the fact that he was actually married. To the colonel's daughter, no less.

Not that marrying into an officer's family would get him anywhere career wise. The U.S. Marine Corps was probably the last bastion of antinepotism in the free world. If anything, he'd probably be the butt of all kinds of jokes from his friends. Most would be shocked, knowing that he didn't much care for humans, with the exception of the colonel.

Still, the deed was done now, and they'd just have to live with it. At least for a while. And that was what he wanted to talk to the "little woman" about.

"This doesn't have to be hard," he said firmly, noticing that she winced at the tone of his voice.

Rubbing her forehead with her fingertips, she said, "Do you have to speak so loudly?"

"Still feeling the effects of that hangover?" he asked unnecessarily. Lord, he'd never seen a woman less suited to drinking. He'd be willing to bet that there were people on their deathbeds feeling better than she was right at the moment.

"Yes," she muttered. "Is there any more coffee?"

He picked up the beige carafe from the center of the table and shook it. Nothing. "You drank it all."

"Get more," she said desperately. _"Please."_

"No problem." He looked up, caught the waitress's eye and hefted the carafe. She nodded. Turning back to his blushing bride, he said, "It's coming."

"Thank God." She pushed her uneaten lunch away from her, set her elbows on the glass-topped table and cupped her face in her hands.

Sesshoumaru shook his head, leaned back in his chair and stretched his legs out in front of him, crossing them at the ankle. "You're a lousy drunk," he commented dryly.

She lifted her head long enough to glare at him. "I probably just need practice."

"Don't do this often?" he asked. Maybe it was a personal question. But they were married now, and he wanted to know if he'd saddled himself with a lush.

Her voice muffled by her palms, she asked, "Why would anyone want to do this _often?_"

That had always been his point of view, too. But there were plenty of folks more than willing to suffer the pain for the few hours of a pleasant buzz.

"I can't figure out that one myself," he said, keeping his voice low enough to not be painful to her. "But lots of people do. What I want to know is, are you one of them?"

Their waitress arrived, picked up the empty carafe and set a replenished one in its place. Kagome sat up, reached for it, and poured herself what had to be her tenth cup of coffee.

Cupping the mug between her palms, she looked at her new husband over the rim, inhaled the rich steam and said plainly, "No, First Sergeant. I don't drink." She took a sip, shuddered and qualified that statement by adding, "Usually."

"Glad to hear it," he told her. "You don't seem to have a talent for it."

"Now _there's _an understatement."

He caught himself before he could actually smile. Damn it, he didn't want to like her. He didn't want to feel anything for her.

"I think we should get a few things straight," he said.

"Shoot," she muttered. "Please."

Sesshoumaru swallowed another reluctant smile. "See, I didn't plan of marrying you."

She snorted. "Well, _duh_."

He studied her for a long minute. "Are you always this sarcastic?"

"Always," she said after another sip. "But it's a lot pithier when I'm in pain."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Probably safer."

Sesshoumaru helplessly shook his head in admiration.

Damn, he was going to have an uphill battle not getting real fond of her. Her waist length black hair, most humans kept it short but she didn't, twisted in the breeze off the river. She wasn't wearing her sunglasses, so he got a good look at those blue eyes he'd noticed right away last night. Even blurred by the glassy haze of alcohol, they'd been remarkable. Now, offset as they were by the blood-shot whites of her eyes, the liquid sapphire blue seemed to shimmer with depths he didn't even want to consider. Delicate, black brows arched high on her forehead and her full lips were tight with the pain throbbing in her head.

Damn, she looked good.

"How old are you?" he asked suddenly.

One of those delicate brows lifted high over her right eye. "Awfully personal for our first date, don't you think?"

"Since our first date was also our wedding, no, I don't think so."

"Hmm," she said. "Point taken. All right, I'm twenty-eight."

His brain raced for a minute. "But the colonel's only forty-five."

She smiled and gave him a wink that quickly became a wince. "That's right. He really prefers it if people don't do the math."

"But that would have made him only-"

"Seventeen when I was born."

Sesshoumaru whistled, low and long.

"Before you ask," she went on, her voice tight, "Mom was sixteen. Though the older I got, the younger my mother used to get, so it's hard to be sure."

"Must have been hard on them," he said more to himself than to her.

"I'm sure it was," she told him. "But selfishly speaking, I can't really be sorry, can I?"

"Suppose not."

"So," she said, pulling in a deep breath. "You said you wanted to talk about something. I'm guessing it's not about my parents and their rather embarrassing history."

"No, it's not." He cocked his head to look at her carefully. "You sure you're up to this right now?"

"Probably not," she admitted. "But this is as good as it's going to get for several hours."

"Okay..." He hesitated, suddenly unsure of just how to put this. "We got married for your father's reputation's sake, right?"

"Do we have to go there again?"

"No. What I want to talk about is the future, not what already happened."

"What future?"

"Ours," he said. "This marriage."

"Well," she said as she leaned back cautiously in her chair, "I think you pretty much covered that back at the chapel."

"What?" Maybe she wasn't feeling up to this conversation.

"'You may kiss the bride,'" she intoned in a pretty good imitation of Reverend Jaken. "'Thanks,'" she mocked pointedly. "'I'll pass.'"

Now it was his turn to wince. Hell, he hadn't meant anything by that. But what would have been the point of kissing her to seal a marriage they both knew was a fraud?

"What'd you expect?" he asked.

"Orange blossoms, organ music, crowds of people, my _father,_" she said with a sniff.

Sesshoumaru tensed. Here he'd been ready to like her and now she was going to cry on him.

"Let's not make this something it isn't," he said quickly, relieved when he saw her blink away the moisture in her eyes.

"Don't worry, Sergeant-"

"First Ser-"

"I know." She cut him off. "Look, I didn't want this any more than you did, okay? You're safe. I'm not going to become the little wifey and follow you around the base like a lost puppy, no offense."

"None taken. That's what I want to talk about," he said. "Just exactly what we both expect from this marriage."

She lifted one hand to rub her temple. When she didn't speak, Sesshoumaru continued.

"We're married," he said, sitting up and leaning toward her. "But it doesn't have to stay that way."

Her hand dropped to her lap. She looked at him thoughtfully. "Go on," she prompted.

"If we play the part of a married couple for a few months, then quietly have a trial separation, no one will think anything of it."

"'Trial separation'?" she repeated.

"Sure. Then after a couple more months, we get a divorce. We're both free to do what we want to do."

"A divorce." She managed to keep from shuddering. He made it all sound so cut and dried. But it wasn't. At least not to her. Kagome had always thought that once she was married, she'd _stay_ married. But then, she'd always dreamed that she'd marry for love, too.

"You have a problem with that?"

"Call me dysfunctional," she said with a shrug she hoped would hide the dismay rushing through her. "My parents' divorce was a nightmare. I was only two years old, but I grew up listening to my mother complain about my father. I didn't even really get to know him until I was almost thirteen."

"That's different," Sesshoumaru said. He was sorry to hear about the colonel's troubles, but that kind of thing wouldn't affect Kagome and him. If he was honest, he wasn't a big supporter of easy divorces and broken marriages either. But then, this wasn't a real marriage, was it? "We won't have kids to worry about upsetting."

"Not in three months," she assured him. "I'm good, but even a demoness would require at least five."

He sighed heavily. "I _meant_ that we wouldn't be sleeping together, so there wouldn't be any complications."

"Ah," Kagome said, carefully nodding as if her head was about to fall off. "A platonic marriage."

"Of course," he said. Crossing his arms over his chest, he looked at her as if he was waiting for her to applaud.

Well, isn't this a wonderful turn of events? she thought.

The oldest living virgin in the world had just become the oldest living _married_ virgin.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry it took so long to add this chapter. I was really busy and then I got sick, so I had no time to write. But now it is here and I am starting on the next chapter already. I love the reviews and I hope you continue to like my story. Thank you!**

**Chapter Four**

She forced another swallow of coffee down her throat. Why did things like this keep happening to her? She wasn't a bad person. She didn't go out of her way to hurt people. Heck, she even hated calling an exterminator to wipe out bug civilizations.

And still she managed to screw up her life on a regular basis.

Risking a still-bleary-eyed glance at her new husband, she could almost see what he was thinking. And it wasn't flattering.

"Fine, First Sergeant Taisho," she said softly. "Platonic, it is. Your virtue is safe with me."

One corner of his mouth tilted up slightly, then flattened out again. He'd done that move several times already that morning. Either she amused him greatly or he had a serious facial tic. It must be the latter, she thought. What he could find entertaining about a sexless marriage between strangers was completely beyond her.

Then that tic flickered again.

"What's so funny?" she asked, despite the fact that his half smile was now gone.

"Trust me, Princess," he said. "I don't think there's _anything_ funny in all this."

"Then why'd you do it?"

"Do it?"

"Marry me."

His long fingers curled through the handle of his coffee cup. "For your father."

"I figured that much out for myself," she said, suddenly exhausted with the morning's activities. Getting married could really take a toll on a person.

He nodded. "Let's just say I owe the man."

"Enough to marry his daughter?" One eyebrow lifted. "Must be quite a debt."

"I think so."

Intrigued, and more curious than she cared to admit, even to herself, she stared at him for a long moment before asking, "I don't suppose you'd care to share that information with me?"

Again that corner of his mouth tilted up briefly. "No, I wouldn't."

She tried a shrug and was immensely grateful when her head didn't roll off her shoulders.

"How about you?" he asked.

"What about me?"

"Why'd _you_ agree to the wedding?"

Now there was a loaded question. One she wasn't prepared to discuss with a man she hardly knew, even if he was her husband. Old, embarrassing memories rose up in her mind and she deliberately pushed them all to the back of her still-foggy brain.

"Let's just say _I _owed him, too."

"No sharing?"

A distinct twinkle shone at her from his golden eyes. The first sergeant? Teasing? "I think I'll pass," she said, not even realizing that she was throwing his earlier words back at him. The twinkle dissolved in a heartbeat.

"Look, Kagome," he said, "for better or worse, we're married."

"For richer or poorer," she intoned solemnly. "In sickness and in health-"

"At least for now," he interrupted. "We may as well try to get along."

A romantic speech designed to bring flutters of happiness to any girl's heart, she muttered to herself as she rubbed at that spot between her eyes again, hoping to ease the throbbing ache. Nothing.

Squinting at him, she felt her stomach drop, as it did every time she rode a roller coaster. Ridiculous for a man's face to have that effect on her. Especially when it wasn't even a classically _handsome_ face. Sesshoumaru Taisho was more beautiful than handsome. Attractive, sure, she supposed. Her stomach pitched again and this time she ignored it.

He _did_ have a point.

For the next few months at least, they would be married. Living together. So they wouldn't be sleeping together. Was that really so important?

Once again, she was on the roller coaster. The hangover, she told herself. It was just the hangover.

All right, they wouldn't be lovers. They would be _friends_. Or if not friends, noncombative opponents.

Good Lord, she sounded as marine-oriented as her new husband.

Taking a deep, steadying breath in the hopes of jumping off that stomach-lurching ride, she said, "Okay, First Sergeant-"

"Sesshoumaru," he interrupted. "Call me Sesshoumaru."

She nodded slowly. "Sesshoumaru it is." Inhaling sharply, she sucked in the still cool air off the river before extending her hand in a gesture of peace. As he took her hand in his and shook it, she heard herself ask, "So, husband, do you snore?"

* * *

That night at dinner, Sesshoumaru looked across the table at his wife and told himself to remember that this was, for all intents and purposes, a _pretend_ marriage. But it wasn't easy.

She looked gorgeous. Amazing what the lack of a hangover could do for a woman. She wore a short, midnight-blue dress that hugged her curves, defining her many assets to perfection. The color of the dress somehow shifted the blue of her eyes to a shade of purple that drew his attention over and over again.

Sitting at the colonel's table was nerve-racking for Sesshoumaru, but his new wife was completely at home. Of course, why wouldn't she be? Colonel Higurashi was her father. Raised by an officer, around officers, she actually _belonged_ at that table.

As for him, Sesshoumaru kept waiting for someone to leap up, point at him and shout. "This man's an imposter. He's not one of us. Get him out of here!" He grimaced slightly and told himself that the night was almost over. All he had to do was survive dessert. After that, he could go to his room and- Wait a minute. Not _his_ room any longer. Now he shared it with a wife.

Mental images raced through his mind. Kagome, tossing her newly purchased clothes and the bags they'd come in all over his hotel room. There had been no way to avoid her staying with him. A newly married couple wouldn't very well have separate rooms, after all.

So there wouldn't be any relaxation for him after dinner, either. Perfect. Why in the hell hadn't he just let her embarrass herself and the colonel the night before? Would it really have been so bad if the colonel's daughter had turned up drunk at the Battalion Ball?

Yeah, he thought. It would have. At least for the colonel.

"Sesshoumaru?" that man asked in a tone of voice that clearly said he'd asked before and been ignored.

"Sir," Sesshoumaru responded, unconsciously stiffening in his seat. "Sorry, Sir, daydreaming, I guess." Or, to be more accurate, nightmaring.

"Relax, Sesshoumaru," his new father-in-law said, "you're not on parade, here. This is just an informal, family dinner."

Family. Him? And the colonel? Lord help him.

"Of course, Sir," he said, no more at ease than he had been a moment ago.

The colonel shook his head, but asked out of the blue, "Do you play any golf?"

Golf? Sesshoumaru stared for a long minute at the man he most admired in the world, thinking how little they really had in common. Where _he'd_ grown up, there were no golf courses. That game was for rich people. People with too much time and money on their hands. The folks in Sesshoumaru's neighborhood had been too busy trying to find work and buy food to go out and chase some little white ball around a well-tended lawn. But he couldn't very well voice that opinion to his superior officer, so he said only, "No, Sir, I don't."

"Too bad," the colonel said. "I think you'd like it. Kagome's pretty good, you know."

Now why didn't that surprise him? His gaze shifted back to the pretty woman across from him. Of course the spoiled, only child of an important man would play golf. "Really?"

"I haven't played in years," Kagome admitted. The first sentence she'd uttered since sitting at the table an hour ago.

"Maybe you could teach Sesshoumaru," her father said.

"That's probably not a bad idea," she conceded with a quick look at her husband.

Her gaze barely rested on him an instant before she pointedly looked away again. So much for their hastily made bargain to try to be friendly. Hell, now that she was stone-cold sober, maybe she was regretting their quickie marriage.

Now _that_ he could understand.

Damn, this was going to be harder that he'd thought, Sesshoumaru told himself. He let his own gaze wander the crowded restaurant. He recognized several of the other diners as marines and even caught a couple of them throwing curious looks his way.

He shifted un comfortably in his chair. Sesshoumaru never had liked being the center of attention in any situation. Being a marine fed into that nicely. On base, he was simply one of thousands of soldiers. Now, though, he'd managed to step into the limelight, and he didn't care for it one bit.

"Would you two excuse me?" the colonel asked.

Sesshoumaru turned to look at the other man. But the colonel's gaze was riveted on a spot at the far side of the room. As the older man pushed away from the table, he said, "I see someone I'd like a moment with."

He was gone before either of them could say a word.

"Well," Kagome muttered as she followed her father's progress across the room. "I wonder what that's all about?"

"I don't know," Sesshoumaru said, "but it's none of my business, either."

Both of her finely arched eyebrows lifted as she turned those blue-purple eyes on him. "Feeling a little cranky, are we?"

"Cranky?" Stunned, he stared at her for a long minute. "_I'm_ not the one who hasn't said a damn thing all night."

She winced. "Okay, so I haven't exactly been holding up my end of the conversation."

"You don't even _have_ an end."

Those incredible purple eyes of hers narrowed slightly. "You know, I don't much like pushy husbands."

Amazing. He'd almost found himself liking her earlier. Wouldn't you know his new wife would be at her _most_ likable when she had been suffering from a hangover?

"And I don't much like whiny wives."

"Whiny?" She sat straighter in her chair. "Who's whining? You just said yourself that I haven't even been talking."

"You can whine by intent, too."

"How do you know what I intended or not?"

"I can tell what you're thinking just by looking at your face."

"Oo-oh, a mind reader. How fascinating."

"Knock it off, Kagome!"

"Knock what off exactly, Sesshoumaru?" she asked, leaning one elbow on the table. Cupping her chin in her hand, she batted her eyelashes at him wildly. "I thought you wanted me to talk."

Disgusted with himself, her, and the whole damned situation, he snapped, "Forget it. I changed my mind."

"How like a man. Never sure what he wants."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The humorous glint in her eyes was gone. "Never mind."

"Well, well," a booming deep voice announced from nearby, startling both of them into turning their heads toward the man just stopping at their table.

Immediately Sesshoumaru jumped to his feet and came to attention. "General Myoga, Sir. Good evening."

The older man, dressed in a navy blue suit, carried himself as if wearing a full dress uniform. "As you were, First Sergeant."

Sesshoumaru relaxed only slightly, shifting into an "at ease" stance, arms behind his back.

"How's my favorite goddaughter and her new husband tonight?" the general asked, smiling down at Kagome.

She stood slowly and rose up to kiss the older man on the cheek. "We're fine, Uncle Myoga," she said.

General Myoga? Beads of sweat broke out on Sesshoumaru's forehead. _Uncle_ Myoga? Good God, what had he gotten himself into here? By trying to save his colonel's reputation, he'd jumped headfirst into a pool he had no business trying to swim in. Generals. Colonels. Hell, he was drowning already and he hadn't been in the water for a whole day yet.

"You two should have waited," the general was saying as Sesshoumaru focused on the conversation. "Had a big wedding on base, where we could all have been there."

Sesshoumaru's mouth was very dry. He looked at his wife and in stupefied amazement, watched her smile at him as though she meant it before turning back to the general.

"Oh, Uncle Myoga," she practically sighed, "it was so much more romantic this way."

Romantic? Memories of their less than perfect wedding flashed across his mind and Sesshoumaru didn't know whether to be relieved or worried that his wife seemed to be such a good liar. Even as a demon, if he hadn't known that it was a lie, he never would have known.

General Myoga bent, kissed her forehead, then straightened. "I suppose I can remember what young love is like," he said with a slow shake of his head. "Vaguely." Turning to face Sesshoumaru, the general went on sternly. "You treat our girl right now, First Sergeant, or you'll answer to me."

Perfect.

"Yes, Sir," Sesshoumaru said, his voice as stiff as his body.

Nodding, the older man gave Kagome's shoulder a pat, then said, "You two enjoy yourselves. I've got to go find my wife before some young major runs off with her." His gaze already scanning the crowded dining room, he wandered away.

Sesshoumaru and Kagome, still standing at opposite ends of the table, stared at each other for a long minute. "Uncle Myoga?" he asked.

She shrugged.

"Oh, man," he whispered, his rigid stance slumping a bit now that the general had moved on.

"What happened to the stalwart marine who rode so bravely to the rescue this morning when facing my dragon father?" she asked quietly.

"He's in shock." Along with what friends of his had already heard about his hurried marriage. Only a few more people to tell, he thought, not looking forward to seeing their astonished faces or hearing the gasps of "Kagome who?"

"Maybe he needs a little exercise."

"Huh?" Sesshoumaru looked at her blankly.

She shook her head and he tried not to notice how her soft, black hair caressed her cheeks with the movement.

"Dance with me, First Sergeant."

He gave the crowded dance floor a wary glance. Already, the small band was shifting into a slow song and couples were beginning to sway in time with the beat.

Kagome came around the table and stood right in front of him. Cocking her head to one side, she looked up into his eyes. "Dance? You know, moving around a floor while music plays?"

"I know what it is," he told her, and didn't add that he usually avoided dance floors at all costs.

"Well, good," she said, and took his hand before he could object. Threading her way through the hundreds of small tables scattered around the room, she pulled him along in her wake.

Once among the other couples, she turned and stepped into his arms. Automatically, Sesshoumaru held her, his right arm sliding around her narrow waist, his left hand cupping her right. She smiled up at him and something hot and heave settled in the pit of Sesshoumaru's stomach.

He ignored the curious glances from the other dancers and stared into her eyes. Shadow and light played in their depths, captivating him. Her breasts pressed against his chest and he fancied that he could feel her heart beating in time with his own. His body stirred, responding to the warm nearness of her. He inhaled the soft, floral scent of her perfume and felt it slip into his soul.

"Sesshoumaru?" she whispered.

"Hmm?" His right hand splayed open on her back, as if trying to hold more of her-_all _of her.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he said, his gaze moving over her features as if he was seeing her for the first time.

"You're sure?"

One corner of his mouth tilted. "Why?"

She glanced from side to side, then back up into his eyes. Smiling, she answered him. "Because we're in the middle of the dance floor, standing still."

"I don't dance."

Shaking her head, she said, "Well, now's a fine time to tell me."

Another couple swung past them, bumping into Sesshoumaru's back. He tightened his grip on her reflexively. Her hips came into contact with his. No doubt she felt his body's reaction, since her eyes widened.

"Maybe we should go back to the table," she said.

"Nope." Maybe he was just plain nuts, Sesshoumaru thought. But for the moment, all he wanted to do was continue to hold her. "You can teach me to dance. Now."

"Now?" she echoed. "Here?"

"Here."

After a momentary pause, she smiled again. "It's been a day of firsts, huh? Married in the morning, dancing lessons in the evening..." Her voice trailed off.

"And we still have the whole night ahead of us." Sesshoumaru told her. "Who knows what _other_ firsts are in store for us?"

Her eyes got even bigger and if he hadn't known better, Sesshoumaru might have thought that Kagome Higurashi Taisho was worried about something. Maybe even..._scared_.


	5. Author's Note

**A/N:** Hey guys, sorry for no updates! My computer has been out of commission for a while. This is a friend's laptop. I hope to have the next chapter up some time this week or next. Here's to hoping! :) PS: I read every review! Thanks guys! So happy that ya'll love my story!


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